Peyman Aleagha, president of RealtySoft.com, posts on GeekEstate, asking "Is IDX Necessary for Your Website? – Do You Need Air to Breathe?" He answers both questions in the affirmative using a good hypothetical example. His post makes a couple assumptions, I think, that require some discussion.
- That IDX in every market will give the displaying broker the ability to display "any home that's listed on the MLS." This is not quite true; in almost every MLS there is at least one broker who opts out of IDX, meaning that broker's listings will not appear on other broker's IDX sites. In some MLSs, a very meaningful percentage are opted out. This is part of the reason that I think that more IDX sites will include VOW capabilities in the coming years. And in some MLS markets, agents cannot have their own IDX sites. (This is also changed in the VOW context.)
- That having the IDX capability on your web site, by itself, will make a difference. Mr. Aleagha does not say, "Put up IDX and do nothing else," but his focus on the availability of the IDX data and functions overlooks some other key strategic issues about broker sites. So many things go into the design of a successful web site, so many brokers/agents have spiffy web sites and then fail to respond promptly to inquiries, and so many IDX sites would be impossible for a relocating consumer to find because of poor site marketing activities. I guess what I'm saying is that having an IDX site is only one part—certainly a necessary one—of a meaningful broker web strategy.
As someone who's occasionally referred to as the "father of IDX" (I deny paternity—that belongs to the folks at Northwest MLS in Seattle), I could not be more supportive of the notion that brokers' sites should have the best real estate information on the web. But before you rush out to purchase an IDX solution for your business, be sure that you have a strategy to make that investment pay off.
-Brian
1 comments:
Brian,
Having been on staff at Northwest MLS when the "birthing" of IDX occurred, I can tell you that listing data distribution to broker websites barely resembles the "baby" we delivered in 1996.
IDX is not unlike we humans when we were born, we were little bundles of hoped for potential that undoubtedly turned out differently than what our parents thought we would be when we grew up. Not to stretch the human development analogy to thinly but IDX is entering those “teen” years that remind us of those often awkward and at times embarrassing moments we experienced in our own personal development.
The concept of what has become known as IDX was developed by Northwest MLS to be a distribution of the MLS listing database to member brokers for use on their company websites only. That initial idea has obviously morphed into what is today a barely recognizable distant relative.
Just as IDX is different today, so too is the business environment we operate in today. Prior to IDX, buyers relied on their REALTOR® to do all of the research in finding potential homes for sale because the REALTOR® was the only people who had access to the listing data.
Consumers today not only expect to do the research but in most cases demand it. They have grown-up with the Internet and believe they can do a better job than the proverbial 51 year old average aged REALTOR® in finding the top 5-10 potential houses they might be interested in buying.
What consumers want and need from REALTORS® today is the proficiency and knowledge that any well trained, experienced professional is expected to provide their clients in any other industry. What they don’t want is for the real estate industry to continue operating as if their level of professional success is directly proportional their ability to control the listing data.
While I’m not advocating a free-for-all, no rules, willy nilly dumping of every MLS’s database on every real estate website in the world, I am saying that we need to rethink the whole purpose of why IDX came about in the first place. It was to make advertising listings easier and less expensive for brokers in their search to find buyers for their client’s homes.
IDX and VOWs both have an essential role to play in how listing data is used on the Internet. I would like to see more discussion around development of a well thought out, comprehensive set of “advertising standards” that would provide what consumers and brokers both want; easy to find, accurate listing information that the broker and consumer can use together, to assure the quickest, safest transaction possible.
Lloyd Graves, President
RealAlliance Consulting, LLC
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